American Airlines plane makes emergency landing

10/22/2013

ASSOCIATED PRESS

KINGSTON, Jamaica — An American Airlines plane made a safe emergency landing today after the pilot reported a fire in the cockpit, a smoking engine and a loss of fuel, Turks & Caicos Islands officials said.

A spokeswoman for American Airlines disputed the report of a fire, saying the jet made the emergency landing due to a “mechanical issue related to one of the engines” and an indication of “low oil.”

“There was no fire anywhere,” spokeswoman Laura Masvidal said. She said a maintenance team was still evaluating the aircraft.

The British Caribbean territory’s disaster management and emergencies department said there were no injuries among the 175 people aboard the Boeing 757. It said the flight was traveling from Trinidad & Tobago’s capital of Port-of-Spain to Miami when the pilot requested clearance for an emergency landing.

“The pilot reported a fire in the cockpit and that the left engine was smoking and dripping fuel. The aircraft had one hour and thirty minutes of fuel on board,” the department said in a statement.

It said the plane landed safely at 10:23 a.m. at the international airport on Providenciales, the tiny Caribbean territory’s most populous island.

American Airlines provided a replacement aircraft and the flight arrived in Miami late in the afternoon, Masvidal said.

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